CYCLONE/TORNADO

A cyclone is very similar to a hurricane. It has wind speeds up to 200 miles-per-hour.

In a country called Bangladesh, in 1985, a 50-foot-tall cyclone going 100-miles-per-hour, flooded the coast and hundreds of islands. An estimated 100,000 people were killed, 30,000 cattle were killed, and 3,000 square miles of croplands were obliterated.

In 1848 Captain H. Piddington of the Royal Navy first used the word cyclone {from the Greek kyklos, meaning "circle"}, to describe intense circular storms in the Indian Ocean.

Most cyclone fatalities are caused from drowning or massive injury caused by waterborne or airborne debris. Illness usually occurs after a cyclone.

After cyclones strike an area, the greatest problem the people usually face is lack of money. Poor countries don't have the resources to fix the damaged houses or buy medical supplies. The countries have radios, but the people can't afford them. Also they don't have many rescue helicopters.

Cyclones can form all over the world, so the best thing to do is seek high ground and get a sturdy house.

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